18:03

Six people have been charged after Australian authorities
uncovered a multi-million-dollar crime syndicate stealing baby
formula and vitamins from major retailers across Sydney for
shipment to China, police said Monday.

Four members of one family and two other men have been arrested
and charged over the organised criminal group that New South Wales
Police believe has operated for several years.

Were thinking this is quite an expansive criminal group that was
exploiting an overseas market at the disadvantage of the Australian
public, NSW Police Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty told
reporters in Sydney.

Premium baby milk
formula, vitamins and honey from Australia are highly sought after
in Ch...

15:50

RISE: Refugees, Survivors and eX-detainees the FIRST
self-determined advocacy and welfare organisation in Australia run
by Refugees for Refugees makes a public call for a boycott of
Australia Day, for the seventh year in a row.

We eX-detainees, Asylum Seekers and Refugees from RISE condemn
any group or individual who claims to be pro-refugee but celebrates
Australia Day on the 26th of January 2019. Instead, RISE encourages
all Refugees, eX-detainees, Asylum Seekers and allies to support
First Nations peoples in their actions against Australia Day.

RISE represents over 30 refugee community groups in Australia
and is the first (and one of the few) self-determined, registered,
non-profit refugee organisations in Australia governed and managed
by eX-detainees, Asylum Seekers and Refugees. As eX-detainees,
Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Australia, we acknowledge that the
land we seek protection on is the land of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Peoples whose sovereignty was never ceded. Always
was, always will be Aboriginal land.

We believe the systemic abuse of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander peoples is a result of over 200 years of discrimination as
part of the white colonial genocide strategy that continues to this
day and this template is now being used against our own refugee
communities. How can we dismantle the white Australian governments
refugee torture camps built within and outside its colonial borders
without addressing the root cause of this criminal abuse?

RISE fully supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples sovereignty and self-determination and stands in solidarity
with them every day in our commitment to fighting for justice on
this land on their terms.

Nationwide actions are being organised by Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Activists. Below are the list of actions
happening around Australia:

11:51

A former police worker has been sentenced to a minimum of two
years behind bars after she pleaded guilty to falsely accusing her
ex-partner of sexual assault. 28-year old Sarah-Jane Parkinson
entered pleas in November last year to two counts of making a false
accusation to police and two of public mischief, after claiming
to

11:40

National Rugby League (NRL) player Paul Carter has strenuously
denied allegations that he leaked intimate images of former Sydney
Roosters teammate Dylan Napa as part of an extortion campaign. It
has been reported that Mr Napa and his lawyers met with the NRL
Integrity Unit to discuss information that Carter received threats
by way of

10:13

In case youve missed any of them, heres a rundown of the past
weeks articles: Renewed Calls for Wage Theft to be Criminalised
Revelations that the ABC underpaid up to 2,500 casual staff over 6
years has led to fresh calls for wage theft to be criminalised.
Click here to read the article Man Acquitted

08:50

Hundreds of immigration detainees in detention centres across
the country have begun a hunger strike protest this morning, Monday
21 January.

Detainees in the Villawood, Brisbane Immigration Transit
Accommodation (BITA) and Melbourne Immigration Transit
Accommodation (MITA) detention centres began their protest this
morning, joining the detainees at Yongah Hill in Western Australia
who are into the eighth day of protest.

The national protest comes as more video footage from MITA
revealing brutality and intimidation at the hands of Serco
guards.

The unaccountable use of force, arbitrary punishment, and the
use of handcuffs (detainees are even handcuffed to hospital beds)
rank among the major concerns of the detainees alongside the
deliberate placement of detainees away from their families and the
indefinite detention powers of the Minister to over-ride court and
Tribunal appeal decisions.

An independent review of immigration detention is urgently
necessary. The Minister of Home Affairs and the Minister for
Immigration preside over a system within a system without checks
and balances. Natural justice is suspended behind the fences of the
detention centres; Ministers and guards are a law unto themselves,
said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action
Coalition.

There is no justification for holding these people in detention.
It is a product of mandatory detention and draconian powers handed
to the Minister to cancel visas. People are being held in detention
for periods longer than the sentence imposed on them by the
courts.

08:36

The sudden appearance of a mountain of blue green algae poisoned
dead fish at Menindee in the north west New South Wales part of the
Darling, has brought to public attention yet again, the fact that
Australias biggest water system is very sick.

Menindee: "It's not drought, unfortunately it is man-made. And I
think someone needs to stand up and take accountability for what's
happened. We've spoken to a lot of locals already today, and we've
seen them crying" Tolarno Station farmer Kate McBride. "The
Menindee lakes is like a nursery for these fishthey stock the
Murray (River) as well." Tonight on 7 News at 6pm, the NSW Minister
for Regional Water Niall Blair MLC speaks to us after his tour of
the Darling River. www.7plus.com.au/news #Menindee #DarlingRiver
#7News

This is not a new problem. We have known for years, that way too
much water is being pumped out. The problem has been
continuous mismanagement. There have been other warnings, like the
previous
blue-green algae blooms and the
drying up of the mouth near Adelaide in South Australia.

19:00

On the first day of the year in Nauru, Iranian refugee Bita*
sent a damning letter to the Australian Border Force (ABF) accusing
it of barbarism. She had been refused resettlement in the United
States and demanded an end to being held indefinitely on the
Pacific island.

Im fed up and Im not going to beg for settlement in Australia or
reunion with my brother [in Australia] any more, she wrote to the
ABF. Please let me know when would you let me seek asylum in
another country which cares about humanitarian [sic].

The ABF is the government agency responsible for onshore and
offshore border control.

Bita, a 30-year-old woman from an Arab minority in Iran, asked
the agency why it refused to treat her depression, anxiety attacks,
hand pains and sciatica. Was this a way of abusing her, she
wondered? If so, please let me know when you are planning to stop
harming and punishing me, she wrote.

Bita has sent a stream of increasingly anguished correspondence
to the ABF for years, pleading for intervention. Medical
specialists on Nauru have acknowledged her long mental decline.
There is very little life in her, one International Health and
Medical Services (IHMS) counsellor reported.

Bita was transferred to Nauru in 2014 after fleeing Iran due to
state and family violence and travelling by boat from Indonesia to
Australia. After more than five years in detention she lives
without hope of immediate resettlement.

Testimonies of refugee women on Nauru show an acute situation of
untreated illnesses, sexual abuse and degradation.

To what scripture have you taken oath, that I was bleeding from
a dog attack, yet like a bloodthirsty monster you were smelling my
blood? wrote Iranian refugee Sahar* to IHMS this year. You kept
telling me my wounds were not serious Your oath is to the devil,
not to God.

In 2017 Sahar was attacked by a dog in a Nauruan detention camp.
After being bitten, her anxiety wors...

16:19

Shortly after Australia emerged from a big battle about the
legality of gay marriage, two Gentoo penguins, unaware of the
potential political controversy surrounding their relationship,
became a national symbol as they successfully brought a baby
penguin into the world together.

Not only did the unlikely pair hatch and raise a baby penguin
together, they did so far better than any other penguin pair in
their colony. Gentoo penguins Sphen and Magic are part of a
relatively young colony living in Australias Sydney Aquarium.

Parenting hasnt been the forte of most of the penguins in the
young colony of 33. Most of them, despite having laid eggs,
repeatedly found themselves too tempted by the desire to swim or
play that their neglected eggs never hatched. While this behavior
isnt unusual for inexperienced penguins, one pair stood out from
the crowd.

Not only were Sphen and Magic the
only gay pair in the colony, they were the only pair exhibiting
signs of being prepared for parenting. All signs pointed to the
pair being diligent and careful parents. In fact, they had already
build a nest together and were sitting on it constantly.

In response to this extraordinary
behavior, aquarium staff gave the couple a dummy egg. Sphen and
Magic took to it immediately, giving the staff all the proof they
needed to know these two were ready for the real thing. And so, the
next time a heterosexual couple appeared poised to neglecting yet
another egg, it was transferred to the care of Sphen and Magic.

An Unlikely Pair

Sphen, at 6-years-old, is elder of
the two and hails from SeaWorld. Hes a quiet and serious male, less
interested in playing with toys and humans than his counterparts.
Magic was born in captivity at the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium. At
a playful 3-years-old, hes a regular aquarium star excitable and
playful and greets visitors as he plays.

The two make an unlikely pair, but aquarium staff and penguin
keepers cannot say what makes one penguin choose one mate over
another. Whatever it may be that brought Sphen and Magic together
is the real deal.

On a summer day at Sea Life Sydney Aquarium, the two met and, in
typical Gentoo form, the two began to bow to each other. Their
relationship progressed as they began to bring carefully selected
pebbles to each other, perfect for nest building. This act is a
form of consent. If one penguin were not interested in the other,
they would simply reject the pebbles by pushing them away with a
beak. Instead of rejected the pebbles, they admired them.

Before long, Sphen and Magic began to sing. The two
sang...

15:03

The fruits of Frank, Brian and Joel Houston, the leaders of the
three generations of the extremely corrupt Hillsong Pentecostal
dynasty based in Sydney, Australia are the heretical Prosperity
Gospel, pedophilia, cover-ups of pedophilia, serial adultery,
acceptance of homosexuality and unrepentant homosexuals in their
midst, rampant deceptions and financial pillaging of the Blessed
Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, through out Australian, New
Zealand and all other the world, where they have established
churches in prominent cities.

These locations include London, New York City and Los Angeles,
where many celebrities and unrepentant gays attend their
churches.

10:44

1803 - Seems Charlie Grimes popped into Port Phillip (which wasn't
Port Phillip at the time but probably labouring under its own
moniker now long lost in the mists of time), cast his pithy baby
blues over the Mornington Peninsula and declared, "I am soooo not
redecorating this place!" before tattling to Gov King how he just
didn't do sandy soil for settlements.
The lack of fresh water may have had some bearing on it, too.
Best not let on to the swarms of tourists and residents of the
Mornington Peninsula that its unsuitable for settlement!

1803 - Louis Freycinet, in his ship Casuarina, sailing up the
larger of South Australia's two gulfs, was in the vicinity of what
is now called Moonta Bay.

1841 - Jorgen Jorgensen, The Convict King and claimant to the
throne of Denmark and Iceland, popped his clogs, as all men do, in
Hobart.

1842 - Tunnerminnerwait was Hanged at Melbourne for the murder of
two whalers at Cape Paterson.
1842 - Maulboyheenner was Hanged at Melbourne for the murder of two
whalers at Cape Paterson.
Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner were the first people to be
hanged by the Government in the District of Port Phillip and were
buried in an unmarked grave on the site of the now Queen Victoria
Market, where there have been numerous reports of sightings of
their ghosts.

1849 - The good ship...no,not Lollipop but Fortitude parked in
Lower Level 2 space 3a at Morton Bay QLD with its cargo of 245
immigrants from Britain for Rev John Dunmore Lang's Cooksland
cotton growing scheme. Its temporary headquarters were set up at
Fortitude Valley, named after the ship which brought them
there.

1854 - Fire destroyed a city block in Hobart, Tas.

1858 - The Wesleyan Chapel in Lydiard St , Ballarat, opened for
business.

1863 - James Whyte replaced T.D. Champman as Premier of
Tasmania.

1869 - Frederick Alexander, inventor of the Alexander
Technique which takes too long to explain here in 25 words or less,
was hatched in Tassie.

1880 - Andrew George Scott, better known as bushranger Captain
Moonlite, was hanged at Darlinghurst Gaol.

1880 - Thomas Rogan (Bushranger) A member of the Moonlite Gang, was
hanged at Darlinghurst Gaol for the murder of Constable Webb-Bowen
at Wantabadgery.

09:24

Ive had an epiphany, and its making me uncomfortable. At 53, Ive
reached peak stuff. And my backup plan for downsizing donating it
to charities has hit a hurdle. They dont want most of my stuff. It
all started with our holiday viewing of Tidying Up with Marie Kondo
on Netflix. The show []

07:58

I have been off on a too short weekend
trip to Sydney. That was last weekend and I am just catching up
here now. Holiday mode and a heat wave are my reasons for not
checking in sooner. Tim went back to work today after a month of
leave and Hope will be back at school at the end of the month. Then
it is back to routine. School has been a backbone of my routine
since 1999 so it will be strange next year not to have that as Hope
finishes school in October and she is my baby.

Darling Harbour

Anyway, onto the holiday. We had some great family time. Visiting
with our son and his love. Got to see their new flat all decked out
how they want it. Last time we saw it, it was a work site. Looks
good now.

Had a wonderful evening with my sister, brother in law and my two
nephews. They visited us last month so our turn this time. Darling
Harbour was the backdrop and it didn't disappoint. I would rather
it was less crowded but with the draw of fireworks, everyone wants
to be there.

Human rights groups have
called on the Papua Police to immediately and
unconditionally drop the rebellion charge against three
activists from the West Papua National Committee
(KNPB) and release them.

Amnesty International and Yayasan
Pusaka issued a recent statement saying that the activists
"were prisoners of conscience" who had not employed
violence or hatred, and were imprisoned solely for expressing their
political views in a peaceful manner.

The Indonesian authorities have
used Article 106 of Indonesias Criminal Code, along with Article
110, to criminalize dozens of peaceful pro-independence political
activists with the charge of rebellion in the last
decade, said&nbs...

10:08

1790 - The Second Fleet decided to play follow the leader with The
First Fleet and, dragging 1,006 convicts along for the ride, set
off on a Sunday sail from England.

1800 - John Washington Price, recently arrived on the ship Minerva,
observes that Pummil-woy (who frequents Sidney & Paramatta) is
known to say that no gun or pistol can kill him He has now lodged
in him, in shot, sluggs [sic] and bullets about eight or ten ounces
of lead, it is supposed he has killed over 30 of our people, but it
is doubtful on which side the provocation was given.

1835 - The "last remaining" Tassie Aborigines were rounded up and
put onto Flinders Island.
Apparently all those others in Tassie were figments of our
imaginations.

1846 - Charles Sturt's 18 month expedition to open up inland
Australia came to a crashing halt (coz the Simpson Desert and a
severe drought just wouldn't play ball), so he took his bat and
ball home to Adelaide.

1850 - Australian Philosophical Society (late the Royal Society of
NSW) was formed in Sydney.

1863 - The Main Western Railway Line (NSW) was flung open for
business from Kingswood to Penrith.

1869 - Ida Stanley, the first female school teacher in Alice
Springs who was loved by both Europeans and Aborigines, was
born.

1873 - Henry Burrell, known as The Platypus Man for his extensive
research and study of our shy monotreme, was hatched.

1877 - Hmph! They didn't ask my permission...Construction began on
the great hall and vestibule in the Victorian Parliament, costing
37,500 pounds.

1877 - Robert Kaleski, bushman and dog breeder who drew up the
breeding standards for the Blue Heeler, Kelpie and other Aussie
breeds, was pupped.

1886 - Australian wharf workers went back to work after an 18-day
strike over wages.

1887 - Dust off your travelling rug and pick up your gloves Aunt
Mildred...Victoria and South Australia were finally joined by rail
when they finished their tea break and completed a section of track
from Dimboola to Seviceton.

1887 - The railway line from North Creswick to Rocky Lead (Vic)
opened.

1897 - The Sunday Times was first published in Perth, WA

1900 - Sydney excitedly discovered its very first case of the
plague; in the following 8 months 103 people were carried off this
mortal coil from the disease.

1906 - William Kidston became the Premier of Queensland.

1907 A tropical cyclone hit Cooktown, Queensland, killing six.

1925 - The Molong -Dubbo Railway...

07:58

The pond should start off by noting that it hasn't
taken long for the reptiles to get back into peak form, rather like
the Australian cricket team it's never too early in the year to get
the fear-mongering into gear, what with an election just around the
corner ...

A SPECIAL INVESTIGATION?
Wouldn't it be simpler to run a story, WHATEVER
YOU DO, DON"T VOTE FOR COMRADE BILL, THE SKY WILL FALL
DOWN

And as sure as there's a heatwave, the reptiles
will just as surely wheel out Bjorn, full of bland
reassurance

There were other sightings too, the dog botherer
was out and about and Helen of Dale was given a spot, but here's
the thing

The pond has decided it wants a dollar each time that 'leets are
mentioned, and two dollars when said perfidious 'leets cop a
caning, in a rag flung together in the heart of Sydney town

There was the dog botherer railing at the 'leets at
the end of his piece

01:29

The Weekly Times - TWT - is a campaigning, crusading,
truth-seeking, death defying, Aussie battler-aligned,
one-eyed-Tiger-led news organisation dedicated to Sydney's north
west. This flip book - or digital edition/replica - is the 16th
January 2019 edition of TWT. #TWT160119

Friday, 18 January

21:03

The year 2019 had barely begun before news emerged that six
Russian sailors were kidnapped by pirates off the coast of
Benin. It was perhaps a foretaste of risks to come. As nations reel
from deteriorating economic conditions, instances of piracy and
other forms of supply chain disruptions are bound to increase.

According to the International
Maritime Bureau (IMB), 107 cases of piracy were noted during
the first half of 2018 vis--vis 87 throughout 2017.
The 2018 tally included 32 cases in Southeast Asian waters
and 48 along African shores representing 75% of the total. To put
this figure into perspective, Asian behemoths India and China
despite their vast shorelines recorded only 2 cases of piracy each
during the study period. Russia had none. In terms of hostages
taken, the IMB tally read 102 in H1 2018 vs 63 in H1 2017.

Piracy adds to shipping and retail costs worldwide as security,
insurance and salaries are hiked to match associated risks in
maritime transport. Merchant vessels will also take longer and
costlier routes to avoid piracy hotspots.

As over 90% of global trade is carried out by sea, the economic
effects of maritime crime can be crippling. Maritime crime includes
not only criminal activity directed at vessels or maritime
structures, but also the use of the high seas to perpetrate
transnational organized crimes such as smuggling of persons or
illicit substances. These forms of maritime crime can have
devastating human consequences.

Indeed, cases of human trafficking, organ harvesting, and the
smuggling of illicit substances and counterfeit goods are
proliferating worldwide in tandem with rising systemic debt and
suspect international agendas.

Australia offers a case in point. While it fantasizes over a
Quad of allies in the Indo-Pacific to save Asians from China
criminal elements from Hong Kong, Malaysia to squeaky-clean
Singapore have been routinely trafficking drugs,
tobacco and people right into Sydney harbour for years,
swelling the local organised crime economy to as much as
$47.4 billion (Australian dollars presumably) between 2016 and
2017.

17:00

EXCLUSIVE: A woman who mocks the poor and thought the elderly
man near the escalators was in the way, so called the police. A
middle-aged man who works for a global management consulting firm
and self-identifies as "politically incorrect" but nevertheless
believed there was a "crazy Asian guy" nearby, and so he wrote
about it to police over social media.

16:14

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) released
an interim decision last year that would see amyl nitrite and
other alkyl nitrite inhalants banned. This means these substances
popularly referred to as poppers would be moved into schedule 9 of
the Poisons Standard along with drugs like heroin. The use of
nitrite inhalants is popular amongst gay and bisexual

15:00

The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission announced at the end
of October that it was launching an investigation into the use of
strip searches by NSW police. The inquiry is in response to growing
allegations that officers are abusing their powers. This was
against a backdrop of a growing awareness that strip search use is
increasing in

14:43

At the start of every year, new state and federal laws come into
effect across the nation. This year, babies, students, migrants,
politicians and credit card users are amongst those most affected
by laws which came into effect earlier this month. Heres a quick
rundown of the new laws. Foreign political donations New laws
have

14:00

Last year, 69 women were killed violently across Australia.
This brings the murdered women death toll in this country since
2012 to 506, according to Counting the Dead Women Australia
project researchers from gender equality group Destroy the
Joint. And in the overwhelming majority of these cases, the
perpetrators were men who were known to their victims. The

13:35

1788 - The first English settlers arrived in Australia's Botany Bay
to establish a penal colony. They found the location unsuitable and
Capt. Arthur Philip moved on to Sydney Cove. England sent the first
sheep along with convicts to Australia.
Yep, somewhere between today and the 20th them wot wasn't invited
rocked up and crashed the party.
NOT on the 'precious' 26th.

1794 - Members of the NSW Corps rioted on Norfolk Island following
a play held for the Queen's Birthday.

1815 - A residential school for Aboriginal children was opened at
Parramatta with six boys
and six girls.

1816 - The ship Fanny arrived at Port Jackson with 171 convicts and
news of the Battle of Waterloo.

1818 - The Great Western Road between Parramatta and Emu Ford
(Plains) opened.

1825 - Hume and Hovell returned from their successful exploration
overland to Port Phillip.

1830 - James, James, Morrison, Morrison commonly known as Jim...er,
James Knight got hitched to 'is swee'heart called May Smith, going
down in Oz History as the first married Europeans in the Colony of
Westralia.
Aww, bless.
With or without the golden gown at the other end of the town.

1849 - Australia's first Prime Minister, Edmund Barton, was dropped
off by the stork in Glebe, Sydney.

1851 - The Union Bank of Australia opened in Lyttelton,
NZ.

1863 -The Sydney to Parramatta railway extended to Penrith.

1878 - Get your backs into it boys! The Ghan Railway construction
was begun.

1883 - William Burns was Hanged at Adelaide Gaol for the murder of
Henry Loton at sea.

1901 - Jimmy Governor was Hanged at Darlinghurst Gaol for the
murder of Helen Josephine Kerz at Breelong, on 20 July 1900. In the
same incident he and Jackie Underwood also killed Mrs. Sarah
Mawbey, Grace Mawbey, Percival Mawbey and Hilda Mawbey. Jimmy and
his brother Joe also killed Alexander McKay near Ulan on 23 July,
Elizabeth O'Brien and her baby son at Poggie, near Merriwa, on 24
July, and Keiran Fitzpatrick near Wollar, on 26 July.

1911 - A worldwide competition to design the national capital was
announced.

1933 - The Aussie Cricket Board of Control was feeling slightly out
of spin when they cabled the MCC to protest at the unsportsmanlike
head-hunting bodyline bowling that "was likely to upset friendly
relations existing between Australia and England".

12:01

If it's one thing that gets our stomachs excited it is the
thought of a restaurant hiding up a flight of stairs and serving up
Thai food unlike most places in Sydney. Chaao Thai Siam ticks all
those shiny, happy boxes. Walking through a Thai sweets shop,
narrow and stacked high with plastic tubs of mango sticky rice and
fire laden Thai dips, could be enough to get us excited.
Heading

11:46

Around 350 immigration detainees are into their fifth day of
hunger strike protest at Yongah Hill detention centre.

A list of demands was released by the Yongah Hill protesters on
Monday, 14 January (see below).

The detainees will hold a protest in the yard of Hawke and
Falcon compounds at 11.30am Perth time. The protesters have asked
the media to come to Yongah Hill to see the protest and talk to the
detainees themselves.

We want to show the media that Border Force is lying when they
say there is no protest at Yongah Hill. We have been asking Border
Force why we have been detained so long; what is happening to our
cases, but they have no answers, one detainee told the Refugee
Action Coalition.

A room search conducted this morning at 7.00am Perth time was
just another way to try and intimidate the protesters.

The hunger strike protests last week at the MITA North and now
at Yongah Hill have exposed the conditions inside the onshore
detention system, and the routine abuses arbitrary arrest and
punishment, use of handcuffs, lockdowns, assault that detainees are
exposed to.

The government has tried to maintain a wall of silence around
the onshore regime. There is no independent oversight of onshore
immigration detention. Border Force and Serco guards act with
impunity, said Ian Rintoul , spokesperson for the Refugee Action
Coalition.

There are fundamental injustices associated with the use of
immigration detention and Ministerial power that have to be
addressed. Ministerial power to over-ride court decisions are a
denial of natural justice and would not be acceptable in the
criminal justice system. Border Force and the Minister are laws
unto themselves.

10:39

Real estate cycle expert Bryan Kavanagh says turnover and price
declines in Sydney and Melbourne during 2018 indicate an economic
recession in the 2019-20 financial year. The 2018 Kavanagh-Putland
Index, released today, shows the total value of Australian real
estate sales to GDP. Mr Kavanagh said the $50 billion pumped into
markets by the Rudd-Swan []

17:06

By Ugur Nedim and Sonia Hickey Sydney lawyer Brody Clarke came
from a privileged background, benefited from a stellar education
and was employed by investment banks Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan
before turning his hand to law in his early thirties. But it all
came undone when the now 36-year old engaged in
an unsophisticated scheme

Welcome to the first newsletter for 2019. I started these
newsletters in 2012 when the mainstream Australian media started
presenting false and misleading information about my university
research to the public. This was a result of the Australian Skeptics Inc lobby groups and their
offshoot SAVN and the Friends of Science in Medicine deceptively
named well-funded lobby groups that are promoting pharmas interests
in government vaccination policies (astroturfing).

If this wasnt the case in Australia then the government would
not need to suppress my academic research from public debates and
discussion and from court cases on vaccination. For those of you
who have missed this suppression here is the conference that was
held on the 30 June 2018 in Sydney titled The Censorship of the Vaccination
Debate in Australia.

10:39

By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim High Court Justice Virginia Bell
ended 2018 on an incendiary note, when she publicly implied that
some sentences being handed down are clearly too light, and the
Crown should be appealing them rather than exercising the restraint
that has been applied over recent decades. The comments were made
during

08:31

The saga of
Opal Tower, the 36-storey Sydney apartment building evacuated
on Christmas Eve after frightening cracking, has helped to expose
the deep cracks in Australias approach to building apartments.

The big lesson from Opal Tower is that badly built apartments
arent only an issue for residents

Wednesday, 16 January

13:44

Its always such an insight into cities when you go to small
coastal places no matter where you are in the world. On Australias
mid- north coast around Stuarts Point and Grassy Head where the
Macleay River branches out into salt water lakes and the beaches
are endless. Which is true of much the coastline as well.

Stuarts Point is a stand out as the old beach/holiday houses are
so intact and there are so many wonderful DIY touches and details
that are so personal and functional like the ones shown here.

10:50

As the nation was still recovering from the holiday season,
Australian home affairs minister Peter Dutton announced a proposal
to establish a national public register of child sex offenders,
which would make information about convicted criminals available
online. Describing it as the toughest crackdown on paedophiles in
Australias history, Dutton told reporters on 8 January
that

08:06

Sunday 20th January 2019 in collaboration with the Dowsers
Society of NSW at the Hunter"s Hill Community Centre starts at 2
pm.

The Community Hall, 44 Gladesville
Road Hunters Hill NSW

-

Our major focus is on four skulls we have recently examined, two
are still on site, two are in our possession. The unresolved
problem that these skulls create is at least three have no Earthly
equivalent.

Two skulls do not have foreheads, there is nothing above the
eyebrow ridges, the skull cases slope backward at 180 degrees and
greater, are semi-rectangular and both have massive eyes which are
the largest ever seen. Another skull has no evidence of suturing
which means it cannot be classified as hominin or sapiens.

Complementing these developments, some extremely compelling
evidence has turned up that absolutely proves that the Standing
Stones site is legitimate, and there was the first language on this
continent that predates all other languages ever spoken.

Quite a few loose ends have been tied up, and even the Courier
Mail will have to concede their official denial of the site, and
the archaeologist was completely wrong and should be publicly
retracted.

01:20

Sydney's apartment pipeline is now shrinking after
its multi-year boom, but in the meantime there is plenty of new
stock for tenants to choose from.

December is a seasonally weak month for the
rentals market for obvious reasons, but Sydney had around 25,000
rental vacancies around Christmas according to the latest SQM
Research figures, for a vacancy rate of 3.6 per cent (well up from
2.6 per cent for the prior corresponding period).

Sydney's population is growing fast, but it's
always going to take time to digest such a high level of rental
supply coming all in a rush.

At the sub-regional level, rental vacancies are
especially high in the supply-responsive zones, such as within the
Hills District of Sydney.

Source: SQM Research

Some of the suburbs where landlords are really
likely to struggle have been flagged here often enough before,
including as Wentworth Point (8.3 per cent vacancy rate in
December).

Despite the high level of supply unit asking rents
increased in Sydney over the month.

At the other end of the spectrum Hobart (0.4 per
cent) had but a hundred or so vacancies, while Adelaide, Brisbane,
and Perth have consistently seen vacancy rates lower than a year
earlier, so these markets are tightening.

Tuesday, 15 January

12:39

Immigration detainees at two compounds of Yongah Hill (outside
Perth) have begun a hunger strike (Monday 14 January) in protest
against detention conditions.

On the night of Sunday 13 January, the Yongah Hill protesters
rallied outside their accommodation blocks. On Monday, over 350
people began a hunger strike protest to draw attention to the
conditions, the mistreatment and the abuses in Yongah Hill.

The Yongah Hill protesters have issued a statement (below) with
a list of their concerns, raising many issues regarding long term
detention injustice, visa cancellations, as well as abuse by Serco
guards, and the arbitrary arrest powers and internal punishment
regime that operates in immigration detention.

The routine use of handcuffs that has become part of Border
Forces militarisation of detention is a particular concern. Below
is a video clip of a detainee handcuffed in a Perth hospital after
self-harm incidents.

In both MITA and Yongah Hill, protesters have disappeared into
punishment cells inside the respective detention centres. One
Yongah Hill detainee who staged a roof top protest was taken to the
punishment cells on 9 January, and has not been seen since.

TVs WON IN MITA

Meanwhile, the hunger strike at Melbournes MITA
North detention compound has been suspended after Border Force met
one of the detainees demands, providing TVs for the detainees rooms
(see photo).

However, tensions remain; the TVs are only in one compound and
as yet have no antenna connection. And the detainees are still
waiting for chairs to be brought into the compound and for the
midnight lockdown to be lifted.

And there other outstanding issues about detention conditions to
be addressed. Two people in MITA have attempted suicide (one by
eating a razo...

06:12

During the Indonesian security force operation taking
place in the Nduga region, an article in The Saturday Paper
(December 22) reported that the Indonesian military had employed
airstrikes in West Papua during the operation and may have used the
banned chemical weapon white phosphorus. White phosphorus is banned
by the Geneva Convention for use against civilians. Reports of its
use including images of burn victims have appeared on social
media.

Monday, 14 January

14:33

RISE: Refugees, Survivors and Ex-detainees the first
self-determined advocacy and welfare organisation in Australia run
by Refugees for Refugees calls for a boycott of Australia Day, for
the seventh year in a row.

We Refugees, Ex-detainees and Asylum Seekers from RISE condemn
any group or individual who claims to be pro-refugee but celebrates
Australia Day on the 26th of January 2019. Instead, RISE encourages
all refugees, ex-detainees, asylum seekers and allies to support
First Nations peoples in their actions against Australia Day.

RISE represents over 30 refugee community groups in Australia
and is the first (and one of the few) self-determined, registered,
non-profit refugee organisations in Australia governed and managed
by refugees, asylum seekers and ex-detainees. As refugees, asylum
seekers and ex detainees in Australia, we acknowledge that the land
we seek protection on is the land of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Peoples whose sovereignty was never ceded. Always
was, always will be Aboriginal land.

We believe the systemic abuse of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander peoples is a result of over 200 years of discrimination as
part of the white colonial genocide strategy that continues to this
day and this template is now being used against our own refugee
communities. How can we dismantle the white Australian governments
refugee torture camps built within and outside its colonial borders
without addressing the root cause of this criminal abuse?

RISE fully supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples sovereignty and self-determination and stands in solidarity
with them every day in our commitment to fighting for justice on
this land on their terms.

Nationwide actions are being organised by Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Activists. Below are the list of actions
happening around Australia :

I pushed out the blades on the makita
plane and hacked away at all the timber and fill sitting too high
and shattered a couple of weak pieces(mostly thinnish bits with the
grain vertical), and knocked out a few others that had crappy glue
bonds, or were not fully set .

Then I had a go with the big
sander.

Anyway it starts to give an idea of what
it will looked like finished and varnished

Years later we would realise, with a bang, the purpose of the
new great game.

Spying>Analysis>Persuasion. The Mi(6)ssion was not just to
collect information about the inner core of our lives, but using
big data AI analysis, to learn how we as a society and as
individuals, would be most vulnerable to misinformation, and apt to
consent. Cambridge Analytica whistleblower, Chris Wylie, held
a mirror to our nakedness in the face of such power, and to his
companys for-profit information operations, within the context of
elections.

As they appear, the Integrity Initiative revelations, as well
documented here by Robert Stevens on the
WSWS,< /> are steadily revealing that the same national
security bodies, who amended or ignored constitutional laws and
collected everyones confidential information, are behind years of
misinformation, with a view to a war. WW3 it seems. Stevens
enlightens us on IIs involvement in the Skripal reporting, and the
licence it gave Teresa May to
lash out at Russia.

Sunday, 13 January

23:33

Its almost fourteen months since Reko Rennies beautiful artwork
at Taylor Square was painted over so the building could be more
attractive to rent out. The other night, wandering along Oxford
Street, I noticed the For Lease sign was still there. A sad start
to the new year, I thought, as I really love public

14:49

In the midst of a warm summer in Sydney, Ive been watching
friends post photographs of snow in Europe. Their photographs have
inspired me to go looking for photographs from the past where Ive
experienced snow myself (which I love) taken in Sweden and
Iceland.

13:12

[Editors note: In December last year was the
fourth anniversary of the Sydney Siege. Below is the verbatim copy
of the letter Mary Maxwell sent to the coroner before he completed
his Inquest.]

The following Ninety-Nine Ways letter was sent to
the NSW Coroners Court in 2016 and was acknowledged in a reply from
Melissa Heris, solicitor for the Lindt Caf inquest. No changes have
been made here, but bolding and boxed headings are added.

To Coroner Michael Barnes September 30,
2016

Your Honour:

I respectfully submit this as an interested citizen.
I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the
Inques...

Friday, 11 January

13:40

The hunger strike protest by immigration detainees in MITA North
that began on Tuesday 8 January, is now into its fourth day.

Detainees have also spent their third night outside their rooms,
resisting the nightly midnight lockdown by refusing to enter their
rooms. It is standard operating procedure in the militarised
compound for detainees to be locked in their rooms between midnight
and 7.00am.

Photos of detainees on the floor of MITA
North boycotting the lockdown

At Yongah Hill detention centre, where a similar purpose-built
compound has recently been commissioned, detainees are not locked
down.

The disgust with the purpose built prison-like maximum security
conditions saw detainees request to Border Force officials to
re-open the previous high security Maribyrnong detention centre
that the government declared closed on 1 January.

While Border Force has said they will consider the detainees
demands over food, to end the lockdown, provide chairs and allow
TVs in the detainees rooms, the officials have refused to put
anything in writing.

The detainees are also waiting for action to be taken against
the guards who assaulted two asylum seekers in MITA South on
Tuesday night when one of them asked kitchen staff to pass him
garlic sauce for his evening meal.

The arbitrary abuse of power by the Serco guards has to be
addressed. The ABF refutes the claims of assault but typically
there has been no investigation. An independent human rights audit
of the detention centre is urgently needed. Border Force and Serco
are a law unto themselves.

Guards that abuse their powers must be held accountable,
although there will be no justice until the detention centres are
closed, said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action
Coalition.

13:05

TRUE OPINION: Teenagers, Jack and Jennifer Edwards, were killed
mid-last year at their Western Sydney home in what police say was a
planned attack by their estranged father, John Edwards. There was
also a third victim. Their heartbroken mother, Olga Edwards,
committed suicide just a month ago, unable to face the trauma of
living without her children. Questions are now being asked as to
why the 68-year-old financial services worker was able to have
possession of not one but two powerful handguns given his history
and background, writes Tim Kent.

Youth group offers lifeline to those who escaped
military crackdown on rebels by fleeing into a forest

Women and children rest after
fleeing their homes following the deployment of police and military
personnel to Nduga district in Indonesia's Papua province, to hunt
members of the military wing of the Free Papua Movement that
claimed responsibility for killing 20 workers on Dec. 2, 2018.
(Photo is supplied)

1) Not so
clueless about Papua: an academic's call for more research on
Papua

Date 1/9/2019
8:19:07 AM

(MENAFN - The
Conversation) Most people, including me, often perceive that Papua,
Indonesia's eastern most region, is one of the most underdeveloped
and dangerous islands in the archipelago.

This is the
result of a development policy during the New Order regime that
neglected the eastern part of Indonesia for decades and only
focused on building the island of Java , where more than half of
Indonesia's 260 million population live . Such a policy has created
economic inequality between the eastern and the western parts of
Indonesia, and have caused a number of problems . These include
poverty, lack of infrastructures development, poor bureaucratic
performance, corruption, and separation
movements.

...

18:36

I have been away from work for the last two days with some kind
of weird hayfever/summer cold kinda thing. In fact, I felt so shit
I was on the verge of cancelling my planned visit to the doctor to
have some potential skin cancer spots identified. It would be all
too confusing I thought,

10:27

Around 200 detainees in MITA North, the new high security
compound inside the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation
(MITA), have begun a hunger strike in protest against the compounds
prison conditions and guard brutality. The hunger strike began on
Tuesday morning (8 January), and was continuing on Wednesday
night.

Ironically, the hunger strike has exposed the sleight of hand
behind the governments New Years Day announcement that it was
closing Maribyrnong detention centre; it closed but a new high
security detention compound was opened in MITA to replace it.

The new detention centre is worse than Maribyrnong, one of the
hunger strikers told the Refugee Action Coalition. There are no
chairs, no TVs in the rooms, no doors or curtain on the toilets.
Detainees in MITA North are locked in their rooms between midnight
and 7.00am.

There is only one communal TV that is essentially unwatchable
because the only chairs available are metal stools bolted to the
floor at the eating tables.

Confirming the detainees claims of guard brutality in MITA
North, footage also emerged from MITA South of Serco guards
physically abusing detainees in the mess room on Tuesday evening
(see video footage). The detainee was attacked and forcibly removed
from the mess room because he asked if there was sauce he could
have with his meal.

There are no kettles allowed; and the hot water arrangement in
the sink has not been working so there is no tea or coffee
available.

One asylum seeker told the Refugee Action Coalition, I left my
country because people were mistreated just like in here. They are
worse in here than in my country. The guard who you can see in the
video, has punched many people, but he has never been charged.
There is no law in Australia.

The detainees protested against the daily midnight lockdowns on
Tuesday night by refusing to go into their rooms. They intend to
refuse to enter their rooms tonight (Wednesday) as well.

Extra guards have been mobilised on Wednesday, said to be being
paid $40 an hour; money that could buy kettles or chairs.

The conditions in MITA are inhuman. Border Force control has
created militarised detention centres that are worse than prisons,
said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action
Coalition.

The should be a human rights inspection of the detention
centres. The government must end the...

09:59

The only time I get called maam in my life is when
my bag is about to be tested for drugs.

I went willingly, a little annoyed. I have no drugs,
I have never had drugs, and I would never bring drugs on a plane.
Thats like wearing a Nazi costume to a dress-up party party: you
technically probably could do it, but its essentially best for
everyone if you refrain.

Arriving at Sydney and changing planes to go to
Canberra, I was stopped again.

Excuse me, maam, would you mind stepping over here
so that I can test you bags for explosives?

Holy shit! Dude, if there are explosives in my
bag, even I wanna know about it.

By the time I was stopped again at Sydney heading
back to Wellington a week later, I had had enough.

Maam, please step this way and read this card which
explains your rights, the big Australian official told me.

I didnt even read the card. I stood silently while
they checked my bag, knowing they wouldnt find anything. By the end
of the inspection, I was determined to get someone official who
knew me, like my mum, to write me a hand-written note saying that I
would always be drug-free on international flights. She could even
stamp it with a little Mum Approved stamp.

The first time this happened to me, I was twenty and
had landed in Vancouver.

Canadians are so nice, eh. Theyll be so good to
you, eh. They love their Kiwis eh.

I had all of those stereotypes swirling in my head
as I entered their arrival terminal full of large wooden Indigenous
art pieces, while I waited for my suitcase, and while I was
strolling away with my suitcase, about to enter the country that is
essentially New Zealand on steroids.

The lady took the tall slim declaration card, saw
the number that was scrawled on it, and indicated for me to walk
into a different queue, away from the stream of people heading out
the door.

That number should have been my first red flag. The
passport officer asked m...

04:25

Back in November 2017 there were some 12,823
attached dwellings approved, but by November 2018 the equivalent
figure has collapsed 5,921, an impressive swan dive of 54 per
cent.

On the one hand, as you may recall, the prior year
figure was inflated by a record 6,512 unit approvals in Melbourne,
when half of Footscray was apparently approved for high-rise
apartment living.

On the other hand, this is no time for complacency
as even the apartment projects that are under construction
are increasingly stalling or at risk of failing.

The smoothed monthly trend figures show that house
approvals also declined virtually throughout 2018.

Furthermore, Sydney's unit approvals fell to a
multi-year low in November, all the way back down to levels
commensurate with under-building for the prevailing level of
population growth, sowing the seeds of the next cycle.

Annual unit approvals in Brisbane have fallen by
well over 50 per cent from their peak of three years earlier, and
are now tracking at the lowest level since 2013.

Even in Hobart - which has record job vacancies
and has experienced the tightest rental market imaginable - unit
approvals have been running at close to zero sine the Royal
Commission kicked off.

00:51

The W.A. cops are a rough lot so this is all highly believable.
Bashing Aborigines is their chief skill. The Rayney affair is
a huge scandal. All the police involved should be
dismissed

A man who was wrongly accused of killing his wife is calling for
'the injustice to end' and for investigators to find her
killer.

Barrister Lloyd Rayney was awarded more than $2.6 million in
damages against the Western Australian government last year in one
of the state's largest defamation payouts.

The payout came after he was publicly named by police as the prime
and only suspect in the death of his wife Corryn Rayney in August
2007.

Evidence has since come to light places two violent sexual
predators within just blocks of the Rayney's home at the time of
the murder.

Corryn Rayney, 44, went to a boot-scooting class on August 7, 2007
and never returned home. Her body was found days later in a sandy
grave in Perth's King's Park.

In an interview with 60Minutes, Mr Rayney said there were holes in
the investigation. 'It's now been 11 years, it's 11 long
years, and someone has literally gotten away with murder,' he said.
'Nothing gets better until her killer is prosecuted.'

Convicted rapist Ivan Eades lived in the same suburb as the Rayneys
and a cigarette butt covered in his DNA was found by police outside
their house on the day Corryn disappeared.

Eades' cousin, violent paedophile Allon Mitchell Lacco, lived
in an apartment near the Bentley Community Centre, where Ms Rayney
was last seen alive.

On the day that Ms Rayney disappeared, phone records show that
Lacco had allegedly used the phonebooth near the home.

When Lacco was pulled over by police the day after Ms Rayney's body
was found, police found sand in the boot of his car, as well as a
knife.

A year later investigators tracked Lacco in Sydney, where they
found a diary page for August 2007, the month Ms Rayney was killed,
with map of Kings Park and the floor plan of the supreme court -
where Ms Rayney was a registrar.

Lacco was interviewed by police but detectives did not take the
investigation any further.

A resident of an apartment block near Kings Park also reportedly
heard a loud scream from the park on the night Ms Rayney
disappeared. Police reportedly discounted the claim.

Police based their case on Mr Rayney on the idea that his wife had
been killed in their family home and driven in her body in her car
to the park.

But their daughter was home at the time he supposedly killed her
and their other daughter was expected home at any time.

Mr Rayney said the case made no sense but the public had formed the
opinion that he was guilty base...

EXCLUSIVE: The silly and dangerous clowns over at News Corp have
done it once again, this time forced to apologise to prominent
Sydney lawyer Adam Houda after the Daily Telegraph this week
published disgraceful lies he was the brother of a violent man
arrested for allegedly shooting another man in the foot at a
Western Sydney gym.

12:37

The UWS Refugee Scholarship program targets students from
refugee backgrounds. Read about two of the recipients, download the
flyer with the information and selection criteria and download the
application form. Applications close 22 February.

08:11

The silly season continues at the lizard Oz, with
Adam doing a classic troll, the reptiles apparently discovering
that the HUN loves to incite neo-Nazis, and the Paris treaty under
threat yet again

The pond rarely bites with Adam, but that Anning
thing?

Was someone suggesting the entire HUN gang should
be sacked for demonising the African Australian community in
Melbourne for the past year or more?

Ah, never mind, it's just a crow eater thing, with
Penberthy gone rogue, and the HUNsters are safe to carry on their
demonising this year who knows, they might get 200 to the next get
together celebrating the HUN's campaign about threatening aliens
...

As for news of Paris, the pond thought same old,
same old, until it looked down the digital page and hang on, hang
on, what's this?

The second eleven must be in charge - is there a
first eleven anywhere in the land, send in some Sydney rain? - or
perhaps they lowered the dose of the kool aid in the office water
cooler, or perhaps all the coffees prepared by the world-class
baristas of Surry Hills are at last having an impact on the
'leets

03:29

The end of the year is generally quieter for real
estate, but stock on market fell more sharply than expected last
month, especially in Sydney (-18 per cent) and Melbourne (-17 per
cent).

Figures elsewhere have also shown that the number
of new listings is at the lowest level in 8
years, suggesting that most owners are simply sitting out the
downturn, even if the total stock on market is higher due to slower
selling times.

Despite this listings are still more than 25 per
cent higher than a year earlier in Melbourne, so there are some
significant challenges there (in spite of the massive population
growth down that way).

00:52

The Weekly Times - TWT - is a campaigning, crusading,
truth-seeking, death defying, Aussie battler-aligned,
one-eyed-Tiger-led news organisation dedicated to Sydney's north
west. This flip book - or digital edition/replica - is the 9th
January 2019 edition of TWT. #TWT090119

'New chapter of persecution': Indonesia cracks
down on West Papua separatists

Helen Davidson @heldavidson

Email Tue 8 Jan 2019 16.03 AEDT

Headquarters trashed and three people
charged with treason for holding a prayer meeting marking groups
fifth anniversary

Indonesian forces have raided and allegedly destroyed
the offices of the West Papuan liberation group, taking over one
site in what lawyers for the group claim is an illegal
occupation.

The raids, which have prompted threats of legal
action, as well as several arrests and three treason charges, come
amid an increased crackdown on the separatist movement and
continuing violence in the decades-long insurgency
against Indonesia.

Three headquarters of the West Papuan National
Committee (KNPB) the domestic arm of the liberation campaign were
raided by Indonesia police and military (TNI) in recent weeks, with
two destroyed and the Timika office taken over for use as a joint
military-police outpost...

DILI, East Timor Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose
Ramos-Horta has urged Indonesias government to hold talks with the
Papuan independence movement to help end a decades-long insurgency
in the countrys easternmost region.

Ramos-Horta, joint recipient of the 1996 Nobel prize
for efforts to bring independence and peace to East Timor, which
suffered a brutal Indonesian occupation for nearly a quarter
century, said he believes the Papua regions future is within
Indonesia, not as a separate state.

Talk to the Papuans, the OPM (Free Papua
Organization), but as brothers of Indonesia, Ramos-Horta said in an
interview last week. The Papuans, they have to feel that the
government, the people in Java, really care about them.

The conflict between Indonesia and the rebels, who
number perhaps just several hundred, flared again last month when
armed separatists in Nduga killed at least 17 people working on a
trans-Papua highway construction site thats a key part of President
Joko Widodos efforts to bring deve...

Monday, 07 January

22:39

Victoria Police is one of the state's most corrupt organisations,
where the judicature has a vested interest at keeping that kind
information under wraps, under whatever pretext possible.

While the media today may report on cases like Lawyer X (or
Informer 3838), the true extent of Victoria Police's corruption is
deliberately kept from the public domain.

In any interactions with police where criminal offences (which
include driving offences) are alleged, Victoria Police cannot be
trusted, under any circumstances, where it would be of benefit to
the accused to have more than one witness and/or a recording device
which streams to the 'cloud' should police unlawfully confiscate
one's smartphone.

See article from The Sydney Morning Herald, published on the 7th of
October 2010 of the following headline:

'Crooked cops' book pulled

A BOOK that claims to reveal
significant corruption in the Victoria Police is being pulled from
Victorian bookshops.

The Office of Public Prosecutions threatened the publisher of the
book, written by former criminal lawyer Andrew Fraser who served
five years in jail for importing cocaine, with an injunction.

Acting DPP Gavin Silbert, SC, says Snouts in the Trough: A True
Story of the Underworld and the Brotherhood behind the Badge
reveals the identities of several people who are subject to
suppression orders in Victoria.

The book, which is the follow-up to Fraser's bestselling memoirs,
Court in the Middle and Lunatic Soup, claims to
reveal significant corruption in the Victorian police force. It
relies on the testimony of former detective sergeant Malcolm
Rosenes, the drug-squad officer who arrested Fraser and was himself
later jailed for trafficking drugs.

Fraser, who stressed he had not set out to break the law, told
The Age some of the suppression orders he was alleged to
have breached had been in place for ''an eternity''.

''They are not meant to last forever
One of the suppression orders I am alleged to have breached related
to someone who's dead.''

Julie Pinkham, managing director of Hardie Grant Books, the
publisher, said the company wo...

Sunday, 06 January

08:26

The pond has spent the entire weekend worrying
about the fate of Xians, though the thunderstorm that broke over
Sydney yesterday came a close second

In olden times, the pond might have spent its time
worrying about spending time with witches (uppity women, feminists,
the ones that dare to dance with joy, you know the kind), or
perverted gays or irredeemable atheists, but happily they were
never persecuted - they were just confined to solitary and assured
of an eternity in hellfire for their damnable ways

Before beginning this lengthy meditation, the pond
should perhaps point out that there are other things worth in
reading and doing the pond for example, recently meditated on Peter
Brown's A World Winking with Messages in the NYRB,
but alas, it's
inside the paywall, and so it can't contaminate the reptile
paranoia with this sort of heresy

Rebillard shows that though they might be urged by
their religious leaders, in times of crisis, to stick to
their Christian identity above all others, most early Christians
were usually happy to get along in many roles unconnected with
their religion - as members of families, as neighbours, as fellow
workers, and as good citizens. The writings of the Early Church
Fathers that urged a radical rupture with the pagan world lie heavy
on the shelves of modern libraries. But at the time they
represented the shutting of stable doors long after the horse had
bolted.

This approach is particularly applicable to the
study of early Christian art. In previous generations, the notion
of the "Church of the Catacombs" predominated. Christians were
thought to be frozen into a single, embattled identity. Christian
art was held to reflect this defensive position

But enough of heresies, it's off to the reptile
battlements to person the defences, with the bromancer's
EXCLUSIVE a good enough place
to...

14:30

I got out and saw Ben and Hiske play at
Moshpit last night, for the first time in ages.

One of my New Years resolutions is to 'go
out more' (haha), like see some bands and maybe draw some of them,
and also find some venues and galleries to show in.

I would have like to sketch Renee Falez
and Dirk Kruithof etc's punk band, but when I went to shake Ben's
hand after their set I dropped my piece of graphite amongst leads
and foldback speakers, never to be seen again. I didn't have a
spare, have to be better prepared.

I put all the links to my paintings and
drawings of performers, with a heap of images, on my
bands and performance page. It's been a while since I brought
it up to date but I will soon

09:33

1688 - Billy Boy Sooki-La-La Dampi-Pants (better known in serious
history blogs as William Dampier) rocked up on the shore of King
Sound in Westralia and pronounced the Aboriginal People as,
"The miserablest people in the world."
Giving him the royal birdie down the tunnels of history is the fact
he's remembered best for his wankerish grasp of the English
language and that his pithy evaluation delayed the colonialisation
of Oz for a century.

1798 - The first land sale in Australia took place in the area now
known as Bankstown. And I bet they were getting blood from a
stone...just like today.

1802 - Lt John Murray was a bright lad, a chap who knew his onions
and used his God-given grey matter between his ears so he knew
exactly what he was eyeballing when he was at the opening to Port
Phillip Bay.....
...no, Snodgrass, it wasn't the secret door to Narnia....wrong,
Cedric Longbottom, it was not the hidden back passage to your
fathers wine cellar....yes, finally, Crispin, you pulled your
finger out of the dyke (sorry, Ma'am) and got a leg over in
class!
It was, in fact, the entrance to Port Phillip Bay he'd found.

1804 - Lieut-Col. David Collins examined the site of Launceston,
but, being a picky bugger, he decided to continue on to the River
Derwent.

1808 - Not a great day for Lieutenant John Putland, son-in-law of
Governor Bligh, who died on this day of tuberculosis at Government
House and was buried in the grounds of Government House.
Then he got shifted all over the shop; next he was buried in a
vault at old St Phillip's on Church Hill, but later relocated to
Town Hall burial ground, then later relocated to St Stephens
(headstone remains in present St Phillip's). Mary Putland had
intended to have the body sent back to England, but was prevented
by the outbreak of the rebellion.

1810 - Today saw Gov Lachlan Macquarie stamp his foot and get
Roolly Cross with those naughty mischievous monkeys playing at the
Rum Rebellion in the NSW Corps who had deposed Macquarie's
predecessor poor old Gov Bligh; Lachlan cancelled all the land
grants, bequests and trials, then dismissed all the trouble makers
from authority.
He was cleaning out his closet.

1812 - They were all cock-a-hoop at the Notice of arrival of the
ship Speedwell at Sydney filled to the gunwales with Shoalhaven
cedar.

1814 - Things were looking up for Thomas West when he received a
conditional pardon today in consideration of his general good
conduct and character for sobriety and industry and in having
erected a water mill for the grinding of grain at Barcom Glen
within two miles of Sydney, being the first water-mill ever erected
in the vicinity of Sydney.

1815 - The Frances and Eliza, en route to Australia with 123
convicts, were captured by US pr...

Thursday, 03 January

19:40

Traders point to a jump in activity on
Japanese retail trading platforms, poor liquidity elsewhere in the
market, and fragility of investor sentiment

.

By Mike
Bird and Ira Iosebashvili
The Wall Street Journal

Updated Jan. 3, 2019 3:20 a.m. ET

.

Currency markets were thrown into a spasm early in Asia on
Thursday, with the Japanese yen surging during less-than-liquid
trading hours, following weeks in which market sentiment has
soured.

The U.S. dollar fell by as much as 3.7% against the yen,
immediately following a
weaker-than-expected sales forecast from Apple Inc. that
was issued after U.S. markets closed. The currency retraced much of
its move in later trading, and was recently down 1.1% against the
yen at 107.63 as European markets opened.

Traders pointed to a significant jump in currency trading
volumes on Japanese retail trading platforms, poor liquidity
elsewhere in the market, and the fragility of investor sentiment
after a bleak and volatile end to 2018 as key factors behind the
market moves.

Theres very thin liquidity, said Michael Turner, currency
strategist at RBC Capital Markets, based in Sydney. It seems like
everyones taking any cues to sell whatever they can.

The Apple result being poor, can you really blame that? he
added, In ordinary times, people wouldnt bother with a theory like
that, but in this sort of skittish environment anything can
happen.

The yen tends to be popular as a so-called haven currency during
times of economic or political turmoil. Japanese investors often
repatriate overseas investments during weak market periods, driving
up the value of the yen.

Other currencies were hit during Thursdays sharp repricing. The
British pound was down 0.4% against the U.S. dollar at $1.255,
while the Australian dollara common barometer of risk
appetitedropped 0.3% to $0.696.

Friday, 09 November

18:44

We are pleased to announce
that on Wednesday 21 November 2018, EJA will be releasing a report
we commissioned into the health burden from air pollution
due to electricity generation in NSW.

This is the first report of its kind in Australia, despite decades
of pollution belching from coal-fired power stations
throughout Australia. The report has implications for millions
of Australians.

Be one of the first to
hear about the findings direct from the author, Dr Ben Ewald an
epidemiologist. During November, Dr Ewald will address a
series of public forums in NSW. For details and to confirm
youre coming, click on the links below.

Friday, 04 May

08:48

In a series of Deirdre Chambers-like coincidences, at least
three parliamentarians made claims for travel and travel allowances
that coincided with election activities in Queensland and NSW
towards the end of 2017.

Labor MP (and former Treasurer) Wayne Swan and Pauline Hanson
One Nation Senator Brian Burston made claims for tax payer funded
travel to or around Queensland on the weekend of that states
election in November 2017.

The following week, Nationals Senator for NSW, John Williams,
claimed travelling allowance for an overnight stay in Tamworth on
the evening of the by-election in New England that saw Barnaby
Joyce returned to Parliament after his disqualification in the High
Court.

Travel rules for Commonwealth MPs, while quite generous, do
provide some sharp cut offs around business that cant be
characterised as parliamentary, executive or official business, but
rather takes on a patina more consistent with that of party
activity.

The Handbook in effect for the relevant period says of claims
for travel:

Senators and Members are responsible for
ensuring that any travel at Commonwealth expense is undertaken in
accordance with the provisions of the relevant legislation, that
is, in most circumstances only for Parliamentary, electorate or
official business, but not party business

Swan Song

Former Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan, spoke at a Melbourne ALP
event on the evening of Friday 24 November to honour Jenny Macklins
contribution to the election of the Rudd Government in 2007 10
years before.

Sunday, 08 April

20:27

Bestselling Australian author, Natasha
Lester, weaves sweeping stories of strong women succeeding
in a male dominated world at key historical moments. Her latest
book, The Paris Seamstress, shows just
how much a young Parisian seamstress, Estella Bissette, will
sacrifice to make her mark in New Yorks fashion scene of the 1940s.
Then, seventy- five years later, as her granddaughter, Fabienne
Bissette, learns more about her grandmothers past, she uncovers a
story of tragedy, heartbreak and secrets and the sacrifices made
for love. Crossing generations, societys boundaries and
international turmoil, The Paris Seamstressis the
fascinating, transporting story of the special relationship between
a grandmother and her granddaughter as they attempt to heal the
heartache of the past.

Author, Natasha Lester, is my guest today.

The Paris Seamstressby Natasha
Lester, is published by Hachette Australia.

The Brandenburg Quartet brings together
the four principals of the multi ARIA Award-winning Orchestras
string section: violinists, Shaun Lee-Chen and Ben Dollman; violist
Monique ODea; and cellist, Jamie Hey. Performing exclusively on gut
strings, the group seeks to explore and shed light on little-known
works and composers, in addition to well-loved quartets of the
classical repertoire. The Brandenburg Quartet are bringing the
unique sound world of the Brandenburg in their debut performance at
the Independent Theatre with a program of exquisite classical
quartets played on period instruments.

19:23

A witness to the Barcelona attack in August 2017
(Photo: PAU BARRENA/AFP/Getty Images)

A new app being developed will
turn a smartphone into an intelligence-gathering device during a
terror attack or other emergency situation, The Weekend
Australian reported.

The app will allow citizens to collect information through audio
or video recordings and send it to a centralized cloud platform so
that police, first responders and the like can get accurate
information during an attack.

The idea for the app came after the attack at the Lindt Caf in
downtown Sydney in 2014 where a terrorist held 18 people hostage.
During the 16-hour siege that ensued, first responders did not have
access to real-time information from the hostages themselves,
greatly hampering their ability to act.

The citizen-centric app, which is being developed by The Citadel
Group in Australia, can also be used to crowdsource information in
the event of car-jackings, kidnappings and the like.

Now emergency services can see what people are seeing, hear what
people are hearing and understand whether its a single incident or
coordinated attack, said Citadel CEO Daren Stanley.

Instead of three separate incidents being called in separately
and treated individually, the in-built analytics of this platform
determines that there are three incidents reported within two
kilometers of each other which are atypical and may be a
coordinated attack. Traditionally that sort of insight may take
hours to develop this app makes it seamless.

The fact that the information is stored on a cloud platform
means that you can do it at a pace and at a cost that you could
never do using traditional platforms, Stanley added.

Citadel also plans to use the app as a prototype to develop
similar apps in the fields of wel...

Brought to you by the City Of Sydney

11:20

Dear readers,I note that tomorrow, Sydney researcher Bill
Chalker and abductee Peter Khoury are speaking in my home town of
Melbourne at a
VUFOA sponsored event. I am looking forward to going along as a
silent observer. I am hoping that the duo may be providing some
updated information about the physical evidence aspects of Peter's
experiences. For readers who may be unaware of these details, which
involve DNA analyses here
is a link.The 'Ata' anomalyCoincidently, DNA analyses of an apparently
anomalous skeleton, which some have suggested is extraterrestrial,
features in a US
CNN report dated 22 March 2018. A mummified skeleton was found 15 years ago
in the Atacama Desert in Chile. The recent Dr Steven Greer documentary
'Sirius'
which featured this skeleton, strongly proposed that the skeleton
was of an extraterrestrial 'alien.' However, an article just published in the
scientific journal 'Genome
Research' reveals that this unusual skeleton is actually human,
with multiple bone disease-associated mutations, thus giving it a
very unusual appearance. Here is hard science at its
best.The 'Starchild' skullA second recently published hard science
analysis, including DNA work, reports on an unusual 900 year old
skull found in the 1930's in Mexico. US researcher Lloyd Pye initiated work on this
skull between 1999 and 2014 looking for evidence as to the
possibilit...

08:00

1658 - Abraham Leeman van Santwits was the first officer and
navigator of Waeckend Boey and he and 13 sailors were marooned on
an island off the coast while trying to find survivors of the Gilt
Dragon. They ate seabirds and seals to survive and dug a small well
from which surprisingly they obtained reasonably fresh water to
drink. Leeman urged his men to make repairs to the boat including a
make shift sail of seal skins. Today in 1658 they began their
voyage home to Batavia.

1800 - Today saw the first recorded public performance of a
Shakespearean play in Australia.
The popular historical drama Henry IV Part 1 was performed at the
Theatre Sydney according to a playbill advertising the event which
is held in the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW.
Margaret and David gave it 4 stars.

1802 - Matthew Flinders - that well-trained servant of the famous
cat Trim - was pottering about the coast when he happened upon a
French explorer chappie by the name of Nicholas Baudin today; being
the polite, well-mannered souls that they were they sat and shared
a coupla scones, a pot of tea, and various charts, maps and
where-you-can-find-fresh-water knowledge as those explorer peeps
are wont to do.
Matthew must have enjoyed the conversation greatly for he dubbed
the spot Encounter Bay.

1814 - William Shelley scribed some fan-mail, dated Parramatta, 8
April 1814, to Governor Macquarie, about the civilisation of the
natives, their relations with European women and a plan for an
institution segregating boys and girls and educating them.

1816 - Wave your little wooden leg with gay abandon!
The patients were transferred from the old hospital to the new
General Hospital in Sydney on this day.

1817 - Mary Reibey had a spare sitting room gathering dust in her
house at Macquarie Place so a gaggle of Sydney merchants, with a
nod and a wink from Gov Macquarie himself, started the Bank of NSW
from her parlour. It changed its moniker to Westpac in 1982.

1822 - Charles Throsby wrote to Alexander Berry re the Shoalhaven
cedar venture, the bearer of the letter being a native named
Broughton who had been born at Shoalhaven.

1826 - Tired of reading tram timetables by torchlight, the first
street lamp in Oz sprung to life in Macquarie Place, Sydney.

1829 - Charles White was hanged at Sydney for the murder of Thomas
Murphy at Luskintyre.

1840 - THE HATEFUL LASH
The Colonial Times, published at Hobart Town, has put forth a
lengthy and sensible article under this head, which the talented
editor has followed up by two others on the same subject. It is a
production worthy the consideration of the public, and an honor
alike to the head and heart of its author. The humane feelings of a
true Englishman recoils at the inhuman practice of bin...

Saturday, 07 April

10:18

A dazzling combination of vibrant colours explodes
from a cluster of pink mugga ironbark flowers. A Regent Honeyeater
attacks the flowers with gusto before another, then another, bird
appears. An estimated 1012 honeyeaters are present, flitting
between ironbarks and yellow box trees on a grassy woodland slope
in Capertee National Park, on the western fringe of the Blue
Mountains World Heritage Area in NSW.

Regent Honeyeater adult & juvenile -
Capertee

I had seen the critically endangered Regent
Honeyeater just three times over close to 50 years of birding -
once at Storm King Dam near the NSW-Queensland border; once at
Stanmore in south-east Queensland; and once at Glenbrook, west of
Sydney. To see them again at Capertee was a joy. What was
particularly encouraging was that two recently fledged juveniles
were among the group, so they had nested successfully in the area.
In another part of the Capertee Valley the next day, I found a
second group of 3-4 birds, so my life tally of encount...

08:00

1780 Jorgen Jorgensen, he who would become King of Iceland and
claim the throne of Denmark but, in the end, would die homeless and
penniless on the streets of Hobart as a convict, was pupped on this
day.

1790 - Supplys trawling nets were deployed; about four
hundred- weight of fish being brought up, it was issued to the
English.

1805 - After 3 weeks the spear was extracted from the Cow Pastures
(Camden) leader Cogy. Despite his wound, Cogy was well enough to
take part in a punishment trial at the Hawkesbury River.

1815 Bathurst, New South Wales was founded following its discovery
by George Evans.

1819 - The NSW Govt-built schooner (that's a ship not a beer glass)
Prince Regent, intended as a gift for the King of the Sandwich
Islands (Hawaii) was launched with spectacular gusto today; having
taken over 3 years to build it was a bit of a let down when Lord
Bathurst sent a text from the Colonial Office to Macquarie
suggesting the ship would make a fully sick boat for Lieut. King in
which to gallivant about the continent.But King wanted a roolly
fully wicked ship so he flashed the cash and bought himself another
boat so the Prince Regent toddled about doing donkey work until she
was finally sailed off into the sunset towards Hawaii and taken
possession of by King Liholiho on May 1st 1822.

1835 - Major Thomas Mitchell set out on his second expedition,
determined to discredit the discoveries made by Sturt.

1841 Edward John Eyre became the first European to cross the
Nullarbor Plain, arrived in Western Australia.

1851 - William Tom and John Lister were a tad bored so they went
out, played in the creek at Ophir and dug up some GOLD!
Edward Hargraves did not, I repeat, did NOT discover the gold.
He was just a very greedy boy.

1881 - George Adams knew the worth of 2 flies crawling up a wall
and so he held the first Tattersall's Sweep on the Sydney Cup neddy
race. This was the first of Tattersall's lotteries, run from the
Tattersall's pub in Sydney.

1887 - The Main North Railway Line (NSW) was opened from Hornsby -
Jct (Start Boronia No 5 deviation) to Jct (Start Boronia No 5
deviation) - Jct (End Boronia No 5 deviation) to Jct (End Boronia
No 5 deviation) - Hawkesbury River.

1891 - Brilliant cartoonist who lampooned Hitler and created
Colonel Blimp, Sir David Low, was born in New Zealand. His cartoons
were published when he was only 15 and The Bulletin invited him
onto their staff, in Australia, when he was 18.

1893 - Today saw the ever-so-ungainly collapse of the Commercial
Bank of Oz when the cocks came home to roost after the silly 'Land
Boomers' had done their dough, done other peoples' dough and some
had done the 10 feet dash at the end of a rope after the huge land
speculation chicanery....

Friday, 06 April

15:24

The wealth of the various religious denominations active in
Australia is a point of interest in the wake of the Royal
Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse,
yet the true financial worth of religions in Australia remains
something of a mystery.

Im well aware that Sydney lobbied the opposition very hard on
this issue, says Senator Stephens. They got to Kevin Andrews
early.

Fairfax has linked the
obfuscatory culture of religious institutions with historical
abuse.

Special issues were often discussed, internally, in conjunction
with asset protection strategies.

In its findings, the royal commission slammed such secrecy: It
is clear to us from those minutes that the purpose of not recording
information was to protect the assets of the archdiocese in the
event of a claim being made against it.

It would be interesting to know why the investigations carried
out by Fairfax and The Age querying the worth of religious
organisations makes no mention of the ACNC data. Having said that,
the information I am about to present is the result of several
months work, an effort which is not to be taken on lightly, nor
easily dismissed.

In this blog post I will introduce what the data published by
the charities regulator can tell us about the wealth of religious
charities in Australia. This data comes from Annual Information
Statements which are required from all registered charities with
the exception of what the...

15:16

Eastside FM volunteer Paula Towers was one
of thousands who attended this years Bluesfest musical feast held
over Easter at Byron
Bay. She outlines some
highlights.

CHIC featuring Nile Rodgers

Image: Marc Stapelberg

Ageless Nile Rodgers at 65 years young and having survived two
battles with cancer burns up the dance floor with the energy
of someone half his age. As he recounted to the audience how a
local paper referred to Chic as a covers band, he feigned indignity
amusingly declaring: I wrote all those hits! And numerous they are
as well as the soundtrack for many a (misspent) youth. With pop
hits such as Le Freak and Get Lucky, this multi-award winning
composer, arranger and guitarist, has produced for Diana Ross,
David Bowie, Sister Sledge, INXS and Madonna as well as
collaborated with Sam Smith, Pharrell Williams and Daft Punk. No
surprise that this music legend had the crowd on their feet and a
perfect lead in to the next performer, Lionel.

Lionel Richie

Gonna see Lionel? Better get in early! was the cry around
BluesFest. Not really requiring an intro, music icon Lionel Richies
exhaustive list of achievements include 100 million albums sold
worldwid...

12:23

Research published today in Nature has found that many
of the viruses infecting us today have ancient evolutionary
histories that date back to the first vertebrates and perhaps the
first animals in existence.

"This study reveals some groups of virus have been in existence
for the entire evolutionary history of the vertebrates -- it
transforms our understanding of virus evolution," said Professor
Eddie Holmes, of the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases
& Biosecurity at the University of Sydney.

"For the first time we can definitely show that RNA viruses are
many millions of years old, and have been in existence since the
first vertebrates existed.

11:30

The ASX might not be doing much right now but there are some big
spending decisions still being made.

The Australian Financial Review reports this morning
that AMP Capital has begun constructing its Quay Quarter Tower in
Sydney. Cost: $2.7 billion.

If the picture in the paper is anything to go by, it sure will
be something to look at when its finished in 2021.

But even a skyscraper looks cheap compared to whats happening in
Russia right now.

The worlds biggest gas company Gazprom is constructing a
pipeline thats 3,000 kilometres long across Siberia and into
China.

The bill here: US$55 billion. Its due to be finished in December
2019.

As Ill explain below, Russia has no choice but to pivot to
China

Why Poland holdsmost
favoured nationstatus

Its a tough gig building a Siberian pipeline.

The workers putting it together have to battle temperature
swings of 80 degrees Celsius and wild bear attacks, as well as
dealing with rivers, swamps and permafrost.

But its the overarching geopolitics of it all that makes for
fascinating observation.

Russia is trying to diversify its oil and gas revenue away from
Europe, which remains heavily influenced by the US.

It makes sense from the numbers alone. China is the worlds
biggest energy importer. Russia has the largest natural gas
reserves.

Its a match made in heaven.

But relations between Russia and China havent always been
friendly. Though thats changing as a matter of necessity.

Russian strategists will be eyeing their Western flank with more
trepidation now than they have before.

Poland has signed a US$4.7 billion contract with US company
Raytheon for its Patriot missile defence system.

This follows on from Donald Trumps visit to Poland in 2017 to
sort out a new energy deal for the US. Reuters reported in February
that US LNG, crude oil and coal is now contracted for export to
Poland.

Not only that, but Poland wont be renewing a contract it has
with Russias Gazprom after it expires in 2022.

Naturally, this will further diminish the revenue Russia
receives from oil and gas. Thats already hurting as competition and
low prices bite.

Poland will continue to hold a favoured nation status with the
US for the foreseeable future.

As the perfect place for the US to hold a wedge in Europe,
expect all sorts of technology transfers, military assistance and
dollars to shower Poland............

08:00

1806 - Report on Aborigines massacred at Twofold Bay. The report
tells of weeks of tension ending in a confrontation between 11
sealers from the stranded whaler George and a tribal group which
resulted in the death of nine Aboriginals. The report is silent on
the cause of the tension however sealers were notorious for their
treatment of Aboriginal people in Tasmania and the abduction of
Aboriginal and Maori women

1816 - The Principal Superintendent of Convicts William Hutchinson
announced on 6th April that 'a quantity of female prisoners' had
arrived on the Alexander and those colonists desirous of a
housekeeper should apply to his Office.

1822 - Francis Murphy hanged at Sydney for burglary from the house
of Nicholas Devine (former Superintendent of Convicts) at what is
now Erskineville.

1822 - William Harris hanged at Sydney for robbery of James Cribb
on the Parramatta Road.

1832 - Thomas Brennan was shot by military firing squad at
Dawes Battery, Sydney. A private soldier of His Majesty's 39th
Regiment of Foot, Brennan had fired at his sergeant with the intent
of killing him.

1831 - Charles Cowper was appointed clerk to the commissioners for
managing the affairs of the church and School Estates.

1844 John Gavin was the first European settler to be legally
executed in Western Australia. He was executed for murder at the
age of fifteen.

1853 - Charlie La Trobe was not a happy charlie (nor a well boy)
but on this day the Colonial Office finally accepted his
resignation as Gov. of Victoria.

1860 - John McDouall Stuart was trudging along during a sunny amble
when he happened across a sandstone monolith today ; near to the
South Oz and NT border he named the monolith Chambers Pillar to
honour the wealthy pastoralist who'd bankrolled his strolls about
the Fair Isle of Oz.

1864 - Anthony Fernando, one of the earliest Aboriginal activists,
was born. He picketed, protested and traveled widely around the
world on behalf of all aborigines.

1885 - The railway line to the Williamstown Racecourse (first site)
(Vic) was opened.

1892 - The railway line from Lancefield to Kilmore (Vic)
opened.

1895 - The Premier of Queensland was enjoying a hearty banquet at
the North Gregory Hotel in Winton, QLD today when Sir Herbert
Ramsay began to warble an unknown song; Waltzing Matilda had made
its debut.

1896 - Today saw the NEW! Olympics begin in Athens, Greece and it
turned out to be Gold! Gold! Gol....BRONZE! Oz had just the
one bloke representing at the Games, Edwin Flack, and he "only"
managed to snaffle 2 gold medals in the 800 meters and 1500 meters
athletics races, failed to place in the marathon (he collapsed
while in the lead with only 3 kms to go) and singles tennis but
finished...

Thursday, 05 April

20:55

The music coming out of Western Sydney sits
alongside the sounds Australians have embraced from the USA it is
divergent, politically magnetic, dangerous and fun. Rappers like
Lil Spacely, Elijah Yo, L-FRESH The LION, and Kwame are making
music in places like Blacktown and Parramatta.

Their sounds are trappy and transcendental,
polished, cheekily autotuned, the beats are nasty. It sounds like
the type of music we would vote number one in triple js Hottest 100
it sounds like Kendrick or Kanye, Drake, Macklemore but itsAustralian. So
why arent Australians paying attention?The
hip-hop scene in Western Sydney has the black magic of a cultural
hub, its a community that is both flourishing and burgeoning. Yet
its importance and influence has remained largely ignored by the
mainstream. Western Sydney is not lauded as a cultural hub in the
same way Australia gazes lovingly upon gentrified inner city hubs
like Newtown, Fitzroy and Surry Hills.

Looking out into the world, we have become a
nation that will accept artists that dont fit the mould we dont
demand they be white, we dont demand a cookie cutter sound, we dont
demand they keep it light, or apolitical. Internally its a
different story.

WHAT IS WESTERN SYDNEY AND WHY IS IT
IMPORTANT?

Western Sydney is coming to be the nexus point
for this music, also with thriving hardcore scenes and pop artists,
and if you look at the population for this community, the prolific
output makes complete sense.

The 2016 Census data puts the population of
Western Sydney at 2,232,661, which is about 9% of the Australian
population. Its a marginal electorate with an enormous population;
a political battleground, which every four years becomes a high
stakes territorial pride marker for politicians.

Politicians flood the community, in their
tailored suits, with their...

14:16

Sydneys Middle Kids are getting geared up to release their debut
album, Lost Friends, at the start of May, and now
theyve just teased us even more with the release of their newest
single, On My Knees.

Middle Kids have had a pretty stellar
couple of years, releasing the gorgeous Edge Of Town in 2016
ahead of the release of their eponymous EP. Now, as their debut
album creeps ever-closer, Middle Kids have already released tracks
like Mistake, but theyve now upped the ante again with On My
Knees.

In a time where a lot of division is growing, we want to be part
of the conversation that unites people around certain ideals that
are universal, like hope and love, frontwoman Hannah Joy said to triple j of
the new album.

Thats so much a thread throughout this album: Even though things
are tough, its worth believing in something good and in the idea
that we can heal. And in some ways, I wanted the music to be
beautiful and a respite from whats going on.

12:50

Bringing their southern rock sound to The Metro Theatre stage in
Sydney, Govt Mule performed to beloved fans during this years
BluesFest.

With their fans knowing them as Mule, band members Warren
Haynes, Matt Abts, Danny Louis and Jorgen Carlson didnt disappoint
with several classic songs and instrumental solos that made the
crowd go wild.

Attendees at the Metro Theatre were not only fueled by Mules
musical talent but it worked the other way around. With every cheer
and chant gave Govt Mule all the more reason to play the music the
crowd knew and loved.

09:59

Protesters against the NSW state
governments mishandling of water from the Murray-Darling Basinin
2017 outside the State Parliament in Sydney. AAP Image/David
Moir.

ADELAIDE AAP

There is growing concern that
targets to ensure a healthy Murray Darling Basin are not being met,
a South Australian royal commission issues paper says.

The Murray Darling Basin Royal
Commission paper, released on Thursday, says its doubtful
estimates of 2106 gigalitres of water being recovered by buybacks
and infrastructure investment are accurate, due to figures being
compromised by illegal take.

There are varying reports as to
whether the basin plan, since 2012, has achieved any of its
objectives of improving the health and resilience of the
eco-systems and ecological functions of the Murray Darling Basin,
the paper says.

The commission, established by South
Australian government in January, will visit communities across the
nation after first hearing from the states Murray Bridge residents
last month.

The commissions terms of reference
require it to investigate matters and inform itself of issues
across the entire basin, the paper said.

Senior counsel assisting Richard
Beasley said it was important for the commission to hear from
people who rely on the basin as a water source.

We anticipate this will be a
significant part of the commissions inquiry and will provide
important information from local communities, he said.

The commission was established after
reports emerged of widespread water theft upstream and its report
is expected to be handed down on February 1, 2019.

09:47

Lottoland Australia is offering a
profit-sharing deal to 4000 newsagents across the nation in return
for in-store promotion of the online betting giant.

Its touting commissions of 20 per
cent of the profits generated from bets by punters who nominate
their local newsagent when they register with Lottoland.

Lottoland does not offer bets on
Australian lotteries but only on overseas lotteries, which means we
do not compete directly with newsagents, CEO Luke Brill
said on Thursday.

The offer, which is being made on an
opt-in basis, comes after talks last year with the newsagency
industry.

Its being touted as an improvement
on the initial idea to share Lottoland revenue from secondary
lottery betting.

In return, newsagents will be asked
to advertise Lottoland in-store with promotional materials, such as
posters and flags, for betting on international
lotteries.

We are proposing a model that puts
cash back into small businesses, Mr Brill said in an open letter to
newsagency operators released on Thursday.

The federal government in March
introduced legislation to ban so-called synthetic lotteries, in an
effort to protect newsagents and state and territory revenues
generated by the traditional form.

South Australia has already banned
synthetic lotteries and the Northern Territory has banned betting
on Australian lotteries, while Victoria, NSW, Tasmania and WA are
considering introducing legislation.

Although nothing has eventuated, the
NSW government is concerned punters believe they are taking part in
a lottery when they were actually betting on the outcome of a
draw.

Lottoland Australia is the local arm
of the Gibraltar-based global group and has more than 650,000
registered customers in Australia.